"Pig, you really need to pay attention to your surroundings," I said to Jamal.
Then we jumped him. Yeah... I'm into action like a martial artist, I don't do no long talk.
Man really tried to pull one of those villain comeback moments, the type where they smirk mid-fight like they've got shit figured out.
"Your attacks are futile… I'll just absorb all your—" Jamal started with the dumbest smirk I've ever seen.
Can you believe this mf?
"Dude, shut the fuck up," I cut in. "How can you be this slow?"
Behind me, I heard Jacob choke, he was literally trying not to laugh.
"Hmmpff—"
I glanced at him. "Yo, are you dying or what?"
Jacob was shaking his head, shoulders bouncing like a clown in church.
"Lyra, wait," Levi said, trying to sound serious but already grinning. "Don't explain it to him yet. Let's see how long it takes him to figure it out."
"Bet. That'll be fun," I replied.
"Guys," Jacob muttered, trying to pull himself together, "shut up and fight."
Suddenly, Jamal screamed, "You shouldn't tell them!" as he charged from behind Levi like he was doing something slick.
Levi blinked sideways, dodging effortlessly. "Dude… what are you doing?"
Then he laughed. "I can't believe you're this slow."
Jamal was still standing there, acting all cocky, grinning like he had an uno reverse card in his pocket.
"Attack all you want," he said, chest puffed like a budget final boss. "I'll just keep taking it in."
Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Bruh…"
Levi tilted his head. "You… really think you can absorb everything?"
Jamal smirked harder. "Why not?"
I couldn't help it, I actually laughed. "Oh my God. You don't get it."
This man really thought he was the main character.
"We're not in a regular fight, genius," Levi said. "You're absorbing our attacks… in a single second."
Jamal blinked twice. That shitty smirk he got on his face straight up dropped.
Levi stepped forward, home boy's face was calm but laced with that quiet "you're cooked" energy.
"See, you might have all the time in the world in here, but Kunal? He's outside. And out there, time isn't waiting. The second this bubble drops… all this shit you've been soaking up? It's gonna hit him at once. I'm pretty sure he can't talk all that, so he's gonna pop"
I leaned in. "So the real question is… who dies first? You, from overload… or Kunal, from your dumbass decision to play battery pack?"
Silence.
For the first time, Jamal didn't have a comeback.
"Yo…" Jacob said, rubbing his chin. "I think bro finally gets it."
"You better pick fast 'cause I can't hold this bubble much longer," Levi warned, his voice calm. Shoker
"Ironic, right?" I laughed, staring Jamal down.
"You think this is funny?" His voice was too close. Too heavy.
Before I could move, his hand was clamped down on my shoulder. It was cold, it was weird, I didn't like it.
And just like that... I felt it.
001 please take over this shit. Its too deep for me.
I could feel his Vibes pressing into me, not like a punch, but a storm, an avalanche of raw, uncontrolled energy. It cracked through my bones like thunder, and in one swift motion, he hurled me across the warehouse.
My back met the wall with a crash that silenced the world for a second. I rose instantly, swinging the Echomaker in reflex, but he absorbed the attack. Like it was nothing.
"Doesn't he care?" I thought.
Kunal's still out there… and he's still fighting us like he isn't tethered to him. And he wasn't slowing down.
He charged.
Then—
He stopped.
Dropped to his knees like something inside had snapped loose. He gripped his chest, trembling... but not from pain. Not fully.
It was grief. It was anger.... I could feel it.
The noise, low and guttural, slipped from his throat, like a growl trying to disguise a sob.
His Vibes were fractured. Sadness and rage bled into the air, thick and dark, like ink spreading through water.
And then... Levi's bubble collapsed.
Time snapped back into motion.
One second... That's all it took.
Kunal hit the floor with a sickening thud, like a puppet with its strings cut. His eyes were wide, still.
Jamal broke. Sprinting toward him, faster than I thought he could move, arms outstretched like he could still catch him… like he could reverse the inevitable.
He couldn't.
***
What is pain, if not the echo of love unspoken?
What is rage, if not love denied a voice?
And what becomes of a man… when both collide inside him?
Inside Jamal's mind, it wasn't a battlefield.... It was a storm. An uncontrollable storm.
He knelt beside Kunal's body, hands trembling, fingers twitching like they could will life back into him. But they couldn't.
Then the silence broke.
It was a whisper, not from the outside. It was... from deep within his soul.
"You tried so hard, Jamal. To be better. To be more. But look… you were always less. Always weak. Let me show you what strength looks like…"
Jamal's scream tore through the silence, raw and broken, like glass shattering on a steel block.
"No. Shut up. I didn't want this! I didn't want him to—"
"But you did. You knew. The moment you agreed to power… you wrote Kunal's death into the script."
Memories flashed like static.... Kunal laughing, fighting, bleeding.
And dying.
Dying because of him.
The demon slithered through his chest like smoke, curling into every crack left by grief. Feeding. Growing.
The human soul can only hold so much sorrow… before it becomes something else entirely.
Lyra and the others just stood there. Watching. Silent. Frozen.
They didn't know what was happening inside him.
Not yet.
His eyes snapped open.
Only they weren't his anymore.
Black. Veins glowing, crawling across his skin like cursed ink.
And his Vibes, no longer his, screamed.
The whisper was gone.
The demon was done talking.
Now… it roared.